Pearls of a Princess
by Midnight Kayari
Summary: The Mermaid's daughters fight evil. But there's just one problem: the pearls they would have recieved from their moms have vanished! Led by Seira, the only 2nd gen. princess with the power to transform, they go in search of new pearls to call their own.
1. Chapter 1: The Return

**Chapter One: The Return**

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete," sang Queen Luchia softly to her husband, Kaito. He was resting his head on her lap…so sweetly, like a little child. "Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta…" They were in the Mermaid Kingdom again, for it was Luchia's duty to protect the sea from evil once she had become queen.

Their daughter, Shinju, swam into the room. "Mama, I can't sleep. There's a storm outside." Kaito sat up and took Shinju into his arms. Luchia looked through the underwater window, and sure enough, there was a black storm raging outside.

"Shinju, stay with your father. I'll be right back." Luchia was worried; there were _never_ storms in the kingdom at this time of year, especially not black storms. She clutched the pendant around her neck that held her pearl. _But what could it be?_ She wondered. _We defeated the evil angels, and Gakuto and the sea demons…so why?_ Her thoughts were interrupted when a huge crash echoed through the halls. A large chunk of the ceiling crashed down right behind Luchia. Her heart stopped. She could only imagine what kind of monstrosity floated behind her now…breathing hot steam down her neck. She couldn't move…fear had taken hold of her from head to fin.

"Luchia…" someone hissed. "You've been a very bad mermaid…"

"I know that voice!" Luchia said to herself. She began to have a cold sweat, and her body tensed up. "It's-" then she was cut off.

"You must remember me, your brother-in-law, Gakuto." He hopped down from the back of whatever he was riding (it looked like some gigantic mutated sea-worm with purple-ish spiky fins) and grabbed Luchia's face. "Care to tell me where my dear brother is?" He leaned into her as if to kiss her, and then he whispered into her ear, "If you don't tell me, I'll have to do something about that daughter of yours." He pulled away from her, although he still held on to her wrist tightly so that she would not be able to swim away, and motioned with his hands towards the corner of the room. Two women with shark tails instead of feet or fins were holding Shinju captive.

"Shinju!" screamed Luchia. "I thought I told you to stay with your father! Oh, Shinju, they better not hurt you!" then she turned to Gakuto. "If they lay a single hand on her, I'll kill you with my own two hands."

Gakuto just laughed at her. "Do you really think you could defeat me as I am now? All alone, without the help of your precious mermaid friends?"

"No," said Luchia. "But I can drive you back!" She ripped the pendant from her neck and chucked it towards Shinju. "Shinju, catch!" she screamed.

Shinju caught the pendant with her open hand. Then her entire body was engulfed in a pink light. Within moments, her fins had become legs, and she was wearing an adorable little outfit and holding a pale blue microphone with a pink pearl in the center of it. The force of the light had sent the two women hurtling back into the walls, and Shinju was free.

"Sing!" shouted Luchia. Then Gakuto twisted back Luchia's arm so far and so hard that it snapped. Luchia screamed out in pain as he ran towards her daughter.

Shinju looked terrified. She opened her mouth to sing, but no words would come out. She was virtually frozen in place.

"Sing!" Luchia cried again, though this time her voice was filled with pain and fear as well. This did nothing to boost the morale of her young daughter.

"Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete…" sang Shinju in practically a whisper. Her voice was quivering badly.

"Shinju, you must sing strong! Hurry!" cried Luchia as Gakuto came ever closer to her daughter. She feared that Shinju would not be able to save herself in time, but then something miraculous happened.

An aqua colored light filled the room, and the words, "Aqua Pearl Voice!" could be heard throughout the sea. It was Hannon. She swam over to Shinju and said, "Come on, let's kick some bad-guy butt, aye Shinju?" and then she started singing. "Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete!"

Shinju quickly joined in. "Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta!" Pink light emanated from all around her body as she sang. Hannon noticed this, and began to wonder, _is it really time for us to hand our pearls to the next generation? My pearl no longer glows when I sing as it once did._ But she didn't alter her singing. She had to keep Shinju confident enough to drive back Gakuto on her own, since apparently Hannon no longer had her powers as a mermaid princess.

Gakuto was stunned right as he was about to grab onto Shinju, and then he was thrust back into his giant worm-thing. "Don't think this is the end!" he screamed. "I'll be back for you!" and with that, he, his two shark maidens, and his worm-thing were sucked up into a swirling black vortex.

Hannon and Shinju de-transformed, and Hannon said, "That was a close one. I was afraid I wouldn't make it in time."

Shinju swam over to Luchia and tried to hand over the pendant, but Luchia would not take it back. "No, it is now your duty to hold on to the pink pearl. It is your destiny to become the Pink Pearl Voice, my daughter," and with her one functioning arm, she closed it into her daughter's hands. "Only you may control its powers now," and then she collapsed from the pain in her arm and passed out.

"Mama!" cried Shinju, but Hannon put her hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, she's going to be alright. We'll carry her to her bedroom so she can rest, but after that, we need to find your father. Understand?"

Shinju nodded, and proceeded to lift up her mother with Hannon's help.


	2. Chapter 2: Second Generation Mystery

Chapter Two: Second Generation Mystery

Shinju and Hannon carefully carried Luchia's unconscious body into the master bedroom and laid her down on the bed. Shinju was still tightly hanging on to the pendant her mother had entrusted to her. Hannon saw the worried look on her face, and took Shinju's hands in her own.

She tried to force the worry out of her voice, and actually succeeded pretty well at doing that. "I told you not to worry; everything is going to be fine. I'll alert the other Mermaid Kingdoms of Gakuto's return. Here," she said in a comforting voice as she gently took the pendant from Shinju's hands. "You should wear it around your neck instead of crushing it in your hands!" She fastened it around Shinju's delicate neck. "There, you look almost like your mother with that pendant on. Only difference is your hair color…that you got from your father." She smiled in approval.

It was true. Though Shinju bore a striking resemblance to her mother Luchia, she had a much darker hair color that matched her father's instead of the pale-blond that her mother possessed.

"Alright, you promised, we are going to go look for your father. Okay?" added Hannon, grabbing on to Shinju's tiny hand. "Where did you last see him?"

Shinju hesitated. "Um…in the throne room, I think. When that big purple worm thing came crashing through the ceiling, Daddy pushed me out of the way screaming something along the lines of, "Find your mother! I will be okay!" and then he disappeared. The water turned murky, so I turned around and swam as fast as I could to find my mama."

"And that's when those shark ladies caught you."

Shinju looked down at the ground, apparently ashamed at her inability to protect herself. She was a mermaid princess for crying out loud, she should have had no problem escaping from those two or kicking their butts all by herself. Luchia had always told her to believe in herself, and that she could overcome any obstacle in her way if she followed her heart. But she knew that she would have never had the courage, even if she did have the power.

There was a loud crashing sound that suddenly echoed throughout the halls. Shinju was brought out of her self-pity almost immediately, and perked up to see where the noise had come from. Hannon had also been startled. _They're not back again, are they?_

Then all of their worries were lost. "Whoops! My bad!" called out a familiar voice. It was Coco, the yellow Mermaid Princess followed closely by Umi, her daughter, and all of the other Mermaid Princesses and their daughters. Even Hannon's daughter was there.

Hannon let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's only you guys. I thought it might be Gakuto again."

Coco froze mid-swim. "Gakuto?" Her face was filled with fear. "I thought we defeated him! I remember it like it was yesterday! He was trapped in the black abyss with Sara." Coco and Karen both began to tear up at this memory. Sara had been a very dear friend prior to her betrayal, and a fellow Mermaid Princess to boot. "Why would he be back?"

Ignoring all of this serious chatter, Shinju caught sight of the little yellow mermaid hiding behind Coco's back. "Umi!" she called out with glee.

Umi turned her head and looked at Shinju with her sad, yet happy smile. It was odd how Umi's smile could have that kind of effect on you. She waved her hand at Shinju, acknowledging that she had actually said something, and then she continued to cling to her mother. She was nothing like Coco. In fact, she was the exact opposite. While Coco was usually outgoing and a natural-born leader, Umi was shy, clingy, and desperately wanted to get away from all of the attention she naturally got from being a princess. Yet she was Shinju's friend nonetheless.

Hannon, Coco, and the other Mermaids resumed their conversation about how it could or couldn't be possible that Gakuto had returned while Shinju swam over to Umi and the other descendants. "Hey," she whispered. "How have you been? I haven't seen you guys in like weeks!"

Umi just smiled and nodded, and the other mermaids swam in closer.

"So do you have any idea why we were all called here Shinju?" asked Hitode, Karen's daughter.

"This weird guy named Gakuto broke into the palace on this big ugly worm-thing and two creepy shark women and tried to kidnap me! But then Hannon-san came and rescued me."

"Mom's so cool!" exclaimed Mizu, Hannon's daughter. "But how does this have anything to do with us?"

"I don't really know," replied Shinju.

"Oh, well…" said Mizu.

Shinju paused, and took a look around the throne room. It was an absolute disaster from when Gakuto had come. "How come your mom decided to drop by in the first place?"

"We were in the neighborhood. Mom also saw the black storm, and decided to come here to investigate. She told me to stay with Umi and her mom."

Then Umi spoke. "But my mom gave me her pearl pendant and told me to use it in case there were monsters," added Umi. She held up the pendant that was dangling around her neck. It was identical to Shinju's except for the fact that it was yellow instead of pink.

"Your mom gave you her pendant too?" Shinju asked, clearly puzzled.

"That's not fair! My mom still has hers!" exclaimed Mizu.

"Me to!" added Hitode.

"Well, that sure is a weird coincidence," said Shinju.

"Yeah, it's weird. I wonder why she can't just use it herself. I mean, she's older than me and wiser than me, and can probably use it a lot better than I can. Right?" said Umi.

Shinju hadn't thought about it that way before. What exactly was going on? Why couldn't either Umi's mother or her own mother use the power of their pearls? And if _they_ couldn't, wouldn't that mean…? "Hannon!" she announced.

Coco, Hannon and the others stopped their conversation mid-sentence. "You can't use your pearl powers anymore, can you?" asked Shinju with a commanding tone.

Hannon looked at her fearfully.

"Does that mean I got rid of the baddies by myself?" she added.

Hannon expressed a look of relief when she saw Shinju's face light up at the thought that she really did have the power to protect herself and others around her. "Yes, Shinju, you got rid of them all by yourself. All I did was boost your confidence." Hannon smiled and winked at Shinju.

Shinju smiled widely, but her happiness was quickly wiped away when she came to the realization that she could no longer receive help from her beloved mother. Her face suddenly became solemn, and then filled with an underlying resolve. She took hold of one of Umi's hands and nodded towards her, receiving a nod in return as if they could read one another's minds.

"Let's go find my dad," and she didn't say another word as she swam off into the distance with Umi by her side and the others following close behind her.


	3. Chapter 3: Arrival of Seira

Chapter Three: Arrival of Seira

The six little mermaids swam as fast as they could out of the wrecked throne room, their mothers staring in shock at them, and then swimming after them. "Wait!" cried Coco. "Where are you going?"

"Stop right there, girls!" shouted Hannon.

Lina sped up and managed to grab hold of her daughter, Ame. "Stop, Ame! It's dangerous!"

But Ame squirmed free of her mom's grasp and managed to catch up with the others. "Wait for me, you guys!"

"Keep up pace with me, we can't let our mom's catch us!" Shinju knew the palace better than any of the first generation of Mermaid Princesses, other than her mom of course, because she lived there. The little mermaids stayed close to Shinju, and she led them out faster than their mothers could follow them. They wound up in a large, empty under-water cavern with an opening far up at the top that lead to the surface. Here, they would find safety and solitude.

"Why are we running…sorry, let me rephrase that. Why are we swimming away from our moms? And weren't we going to find your dad?" asked Nami, Noel's daughter.

"That's jut going to have to wait. And we're fleeing because," Shinju panted. "Those aren't our moms…or at least one of them isn't."

The other mermaids gaped at her. "What do you mean they're not our moms?" asked Mizu. "They looked exactly like them. They even had the same voices."

"Didn't you notice something strange about them?" replied Shinju.

"No…not really…" said Ame.

"They were all wearing their pendants!"

"What's so strange about that?" retorted Hitode.

"Simple, really. Umi's mom gave her pendant to her, right?"

"Right," answered Umi.

"She was still wearing her yellow pendant. Even though you're wearing it right now!"

Umi squealed a little with fright. "What are we going to do?"

"We're going to go back out and question them, that's what!"

"But wait, you guys, what if only Umi's mom is the imposter?" said Hitode. "We'd probably all get in really big trouble. And what if Umi's mom isn't really an imposter at all?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, but…"

"Then on the count of five, we attack. You got me?"

"Yeah, but…" started Nami.

"Five!" cried Shinju.

"Wait, aren't we rushing this a bit?" asked Mizu.

"Four!"

"Hold on a sec!" pleaded Hitode.

"Three!"

"Get ready guys," breathed Ame.

"Two!"

"Stay calm, everyone…" said Umi quietly.

"One! Go!" And with that, the six little mermaid princesses swam out from their hiding place, and right into the fray of the five older mermaid princesses. The little ones pulled their mothers out of the way, singling out Coco. They hadn't resorted to violence just yet. "What did you do with the real Coco?" pleaded Shinju.

"What are you talking about?" asked Coco.

"Don't play dumb! You're wearing your pendant! When we all know perfectly well that you gave your pendant to Umi!"

"I did no such thing!" and then Coco turned to Umi. She saw the pendant, and fear spread across her entire face. "Where did you get that?"

"Mama, you gave it to me…" Umi practically whispered; her eyes filled with frightened tears.

"Umi, I want you to open it, do you understand me? Please, open it!"

"Yes, mama…" and then Umi proceeded to open the locket. When she did, she discovered that it was not a yellow pearl that was inside of it, but a black one. The room was filled with a terrible shrieking.

When Coco saw what was inside, she called out, "Close it!" but it was too late, and the spell had already come into effect. The six pendants that were in the room, other than the one around Umi's neck, started to glow white. Then the black pearl shattered into thousands of fragments, and the other pendants stopped glowing.

"What just happened?" asked Mizu.

Shinju opened her pendant to find that her pearl was gone. "Mama's pearl is gone!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs.

The older mermaids opened their pendants, only to stare in horror at what they were seeing – or rather, what they weren't seeing. All of the pearls had vanished.

An evil cackling laugh then filled the hall. "Ha-ha-ha! You fools fell for it! You really thought that your own mothers were the imposters?" Then a mermaid who looked exactly like Coco swam through the hole in the ceiling.

"She must have been the one who gave me the pendant!" said Umi.

"Oh, poor babies. Now you have no way to defend yourself!" The imposter put on a devilish grin. "Too bad, so sad! I suppose I'll just get rid of you the easy way then!" The imposter raised her arms up, and as she laughed, she started to change her form. When she had finally finished the transformation, Shinju noticed that it was one of the two shark-ladies from before.

"It's you!" cried Shinju.

"Oh, so you remember me from this morning, eh? I kind of like you, kid. It's too bad that I've got to dispose of you!" and then she started to build up a ball of energy. Just as she was about to blast it at the eleven mermaids, a voice rang out.

"Stop right there, you monster!" It was Seira, come to the rescue. "Orange Pearl Voice!" she cried. In moments, she changed into her songstress form.

"How come your pearl did not vanish along with the others?!" shrieked the shark-lady.

"Oh, were you planning on getting rid of all of us at once? I'm sorry! I guess your spell was out of range! Now, for hurting my friends prepare to feel my wrath!" Seira reached up into the air, and her microphone materialized in her hand. "Nanairo no kaze ni fukarete!" she sang furiously.

"No, not again!" cried the shark-lady.

"Tooi misaki wo mezashiteta! Yoake mae kikoeta melody! Sore wa totemo natsukashii uta!"

The villainess could bear it no longer, and she let her energy ball dissipate as she swam back out to where she had come from. "Don't think you've seen the last of me! I'll be back!"

"Such classic bad-guy lines. Can't you come up with something a little more creative?" Seira called to her as she watched her swim away.


End file.
